diff --git a/src/audio/playback/alsa.c b/src/audio/playback/alsa.c
index 3c642c3da..bf34dc798 100644
--- a/src/audio/playback/alsa.c
+++ b/src/audio/playback/alsa.c
@@ -577,10 +577,21 @@ static bool audio_play_alsa_reconfigure(void *state, struct audio_desc desc)
 
         unsigned int buf_len;
         int buf_dir = -1;
-        if (get_commandline_param("low-latency-audio") && get_commandline_param("alsa-playback-buffer") == NULL) {
-                CHECK_OK(snd_pcm_hw_params_set_buffer_time_first(s->handle, params,
-                                &buf_len, &buf_dir));
+        if (get_commandline_param("low-latency-audio") != NULL &&
+            get_commandline_param("alsa-playback-buffer") == NULL) {
+                // set minimal value from the configuration space
+                CHECK_OK(snd_pcm_hw_params_set_buffer_time_first(s->handle, params, &buf_len, &buf_dir));
                 log_msg(LOG_LEVEL_INFO, MOD_NAME "ALSA driver buffer len set to: %lf ms\n", buf_len / 1000.0);
+                enum {
+                        REC_MIN_BUF = 5000,
+                };
+                if (buf_len <= REC_MIN_BUF) {
+                        MSG(WARNING,
+                            "ALSA driver buffer len less than %d usec seem to "
+                            "be too loow, consider using alsa-playback-buffer "
+                            "instead of low-latency-audio.",
+                            REC_MIN_BUF);
+                }
         } else {
                 buf_len = (s->playback_mode == SYNC ? BUF_LEN_DEFAULT_SYNC : BUF_LEN_DEFAULT) * 1000;